Detroit is a culinary destination. The city is climbing back from a recession and bankruptcy, energized in part by food entrepreneurs, farmers and chefs who have made the Motor City one of the most exciting places to eat in America. Feet in 2 Worlds is working with WDET, Detroit’s public radio station, to cover food, immigrant cultures and communities of color in Metro Detroit. We’ve awarded fellowships to four journalists who are learning new ways to tell food stories through audio. I hosted and mixed this episode of our podcast, featuring audio postcards by our Detroit fellows, sound-rich snapshots of people and places in Detroit’s food landscape. Find out more about these stories at fi2w.org.

Guilty Pleasure segment for Studio 360: Learning to Love Lawrence WelkLawrence Welk was an accordion-playing bandleader who had a variety show on television from the early ‘50s to the early ‘80s. He had this curious Eastern European accent — he’d been born and raised in rural North Dakota, but in a German-speaking community. His show was famous for what he called “champagne music” — sweet, melodic music, as “light and bubbly as champagne,” like waltzes, polkas and show tunes. It was on the air for 31 years. For people who liked listening to Glenn Miller in the 1940s, it was exhilarating throwback music, but for kids forced to watch the show with parents and grandparents, Welk and his cast of crooners and dancers seemed painfully square. And that’s exactly how Paul Fotsch felt about the show as a kid. Fotsch teaches media and communication at New York University and the College of Staten Island. And for our feature called Guilty Pleasures, he talks about how his opinion has shifted 180 degrees.

Hello Sunshine: How It is Season 3 GET READY: ​Hosted by Kelly McCreary, in Season 3 of How It Is, you’ll hear from Phoebe Robinson, Jameela Jamil, Suleika Jaouad, Danya Ruttenberg, Sailor J, Cristela Alonzo, and more. This season is all about Journeys: adventures that illuminate the world and ourselves, unexpected encounters that change our lives when we least expect it, escapes that bring peace and fresh starts, souvenirs we’ve collected along the way, and last but not least, the places we call home. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine.

New on the Feet In Two Worlds Podcast The Taste of Longing: A Nigerian Chef in Brooklyn Couldn’t Go Home, So She Cooked Her Way ThereYewande Komolafe came to the U.S. to pursue her dream of becoming a chef. But after an administrative error by the culinary school she attended, Yewande lost her student visa and her legal immigration status. Suddenly she was an undocumented immigrant, unable to leave the U.S. for fear that she would not be allowed to reenter. For almost 20 years one of the few ways Yewande could connect with her home country of Nigeria was through food. This is Rachael Bongiorno’s story of how Yewande recreated the flavors of home in her Brooklyn kitchen, and ultimately was able to return to Nigeria.

Hello Sunshine: How It IsHow It is Season 2: Values - This season we're talking about values. As women, there are so many assumptions about what we value and how we are valued. So, this season we’re taking a deep dive into the value of our money, the value of time, the value of work, and the value of play.You’ll hear from Cecile Richards, Maria Menounos, and Abby Wambach, among many others. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine.

Studio 360: American Icons IV

I have been working on a new season of Studio 360's Peabody Award-winning series, American Icons with our editor Andy Newman and a wonderful group of talented radio producers. Please check out some of our latest segments and stay tuned for more Icons!

The Muppets​Jim Henson started making television programs starring his distinctive googly-eyed creations — part puppet, part marionette — in the 1950s. And they were hits. But Henson’s Muppets were typecast. Although fuzzy and feather-covered, they were, at first, considered entertainment for adults. But with the success of “Sesame Street” they became known as entertainers for children. It took Henson years to redefine his creations. It wasn’t until 1976 that the Muppets got a show of their own — one for all ages. ​LISTEN to the full story.

​Walden by Henry David Thoreau“Walden” doesn’t really have a plot. It’s one part memoir, one part self-help and 10 parts rant about everything wrong with American society. So why do we still read Henry David Thoreau’s memoir about living in the woods?In “Walden,” he writes: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”LISTEN to the full story.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyThe story takes place in a world where firemen go house to house to start fires — to burn books.Every few years, the work ends up on a banned book list somewhere in the United States. It’s an irony with a long history. In 1979, Ray Bradbury himself demanded that Ballantine Books cease publication of a high school edition that censored some of the language. Enduringly cited by the American Library Association during Banned Books Week, Bradbury’s novel continues to be held up as a warning by defenders of the First Amendment across the ideological spectrum. As part of our continuing series on American Icons, a close look at how the novel came to be, and how it has held up, with the novelists Neil Gaiman, Alice Hoffman and more. LISTEN to the full story.

Feet in Two Worlds Podcast:​Saving Pearl River Mart, A Personal History of NYC’s Legendary Chinese Department Store

Proud to have been a part of the producing team on this episode of the Fi2W podcast: For decades New York’s Pearl River Martwas the place to go for Chinese goods. Pearl River wasn’t just a department store, it was a cultural landmark. Then in 2016, after 40 years in business, the store closed. But its faithful customers and its founders weren't ready to let go. Michelle Chentells the story of her family’s store: from its origins at the cusp of the Cold War, through economic ups and downs, to how Pearl River revived itself in the new millennium for the next generation of consumers. Written and reported by Michelle Chen, and edited by Rosalind T​ordesillias. Rachael Bongiono was our managing editor and I did the sound editing and mix.

When Bad People make Good Art:In the #MeToo era, it seems like the sun rarely sets without someone new being outed as a bully, sexual predator, or worse. And for journalists who cover arts and entertainment, it raises anguishing questions. Listen to this panel discussion I recorded at CUNY for Studio 360 at Slate.com.

Here's a fun Guilty Pleasure segment I produced with Tommy Bazarian for Studio 360: Richard Klin writes about arts and culture for a living, so he’s usually not shy about his taste in music. He grew up listening to prog rock, which he now describes as “deep music for people who don’t know about deep music.” But Klin has never told his friends and family about one of his favorite songs: “Babe,” by the band Styx. He heard it on a particularly lonely night in college, and for whatever reason, it stuck with him. Listen below:

Feet In Two Worlds is headed to Detroit! ​Feet in 2 Worlds is hosting a one-day food journalism workshop designed to help journalists, journalism students and culinary professionals improve their skills telling stories about food from immigrant communities. Immersive and intensive, the workshop will focus on developing your narrative journalism skills and help you make valuable professional connections. At the end of the day, participants will pitch their story ideas to a panel of editors from prominent national and local media outlets.

Honored to be a part of the first podcast from Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon's production company. The series is called How It Is and is centered on women's stories and the powerful cycles of emotion and action in our lives. Hosted by Diane Guerrero (Orange Is The New Black, Jane the Virgin), we hear from Tarana Burke, Rebecca Traister, Gabrielle Union, Anna Holmes, Kayla Whaley, Jenny Yang, Monica Ramirez, Gabrielle Bellot, Molly Schiot, Krista Tippett, Nichole Bowen-Crawford, Glennon Doyle, Ellen Pao, and Lena Waithe. You can listen to the first season HEREor check out the first episode below.

​How It Is is a production of Hello Sunshine. It is executive produced by Amy S. Choi, Rebecca Lehrer, and Reese Witherspoon. Our senior producers are Gillian Ferguson and Michelle Lanz, and our producer is Charlotte Koh. Sound design by Jocelyn Gonzales. Our theme song “Queen” is written and performed by Victoria Canal.

In 2017, I became the Executive Producer of Public Radio International's Peabody Award-winning arts and culture program, Studio 360. We moved from the show's original production home at WNYC to Slate Magazine, where we are busy making new episodes, piloting new podcasts, and preparing for the next season of our Peabody Award-winning series, American Icons. You can find the show here on the Slatewebsite, at pri.org, or wherever fine podcasts are downloaded. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter, and SUBSCRIBE on iTunes! Thanks for listening!

Here are a few of the recent episodes of the Feet In Two Worlds podcast that I edit/mix and co-produce with my Fi2W colleagues. We worked with a great group of producers from the Fi2W course at The New School.

Very proud to have been part of the team that produced Signal, the biotech podcast from Stat News. Signal was named a finalist in the 2017 Online Journalism Awards competition, in the category of Excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, Small Newsroom. It was hosted by Meg Tirrell and Luke Timmerman, and our editor was Jeffrey DelViscio. Explore the OJA entry HERE.

The Snackdown is the digital animated series I worked on with Dan Pashman of the The Sporkful and Augenblick Studios for the Cooking Channel. On this project, I helped cast and book the guests for each episode, then produced the interview audio before the animation process, and then did the audio design and mix for each piece. You can watch ALL the episodes RIGHT HERE - Check it out and pick a side!

Here's the series of award-winning health reports called The WorkUp, which I edit for the Connecticut Health Investigative Team with reporter Colleen Shaddox and editor Lynne DeLucia:

A big switch: I've left my post as podcast producer at the NY Times and will be joining the team at PRI's arts and culture radio show and podcast, Studio 360. For just about 10 years, I've had the privilege of making shows with the incredible reporters, editors and columnists at the NY Times, and I've learned much along the way. We've done thousands of interviews, worked under crazy deadlines, and kept company with millions of listeners. I'm so grateful for the expertise, good humor and professionalism of my NYT colleagues. It's truly been an honor. I hope everyone will continue to listen to the Popcast, Book Review and Times Insider podcasts. But I hope you'll also join me as interim Senior Producer at Studio 360, where I'm excited to work with the talented staff and host Kurt Andersen. Onward!

Here are the most recent episodes of Strings and Things, the guitar/music podcast I produce for Peppergreen Media and Headstepper Media. Find out more on the show's website at stringsandthingsshow.com.

For over a year, I helped produce The Mash-Up Americans podcast with the brilliant Amy Choi and Rebecca Lehrer for APM. These are some of the funniest, most moving and thought-provoking shows I've had the privilege to work on. I moved on to another position, but I hope you'll continue to listen to the podcast as they head into a new season and a bigger and brighter future!

Host Jon Caramanica writes:“Closer,” the tepidly thumping collaboration between the club-pop production duo the Chainsmokers and the singer Halsey, is currently in its ninth week atop the Billboard Hot 100, the capstone on a year that has seen neutered, buffered dance music fully infuse itself into the pop mainstream.​Read about the rest of the episode:Nu-Dance Rises With Help From StreamingFind many many past episodes of the New York Times Music Popcast HERE!

Wow, many thanks to Pop Tech Jam for having me on the podcast to talk about tech, superstorms, and um...well, podcasting! Pop Tech Jam is the independent audio magazine devoted to mashing up pop culture, technology and more. It's hosted by JD Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado, my two great colleagues at the Gray Lady. LISTEN to the episode HERE.

We're working on new episodes of Strings and Things for this fall! Our current show features eclectic new music guitarist, James Moore of Dither Guitar Quartet and interpreter of John Zorn's solo guitar works. LISTEN:

Here are all the episodesof the very coolSIGNAL podcast from STAT News, hosted by science and biotech journalists Luke Timmerman and Meg Tirrell. I produced the second half of the series with excellent Senior Editor Jeff DelViscio. SIGNAL examines how scientific controversies, medical breakthroughs and drug companies are changing the medicines or treatments that affect our everyday lives. A few episodes below.

I'd like to share with you the release of the first Tilted Axes album, now available online! Tilted Axesis both a processional event and an ensemble of mobile electric guitarists using portable amplifiers strapped to their sides as they walk through the city streets. The music itself, with interlocking layers often found in World Music, makes room for many kinds of genres and grooves in the compositions. The ensemble adapts itself to the environment or occasion, and feeds on the energy of a constantly shifting audience. The new album is comprised of studio recordings of the Tilted repertoire, and I served as a consultant on the project. http://tiltedaxes.com/tiltedaxes.html.

The excellent Mash-Up Americans podcast is a show from KPCC and American Public Media's Infinite Guest network. I started producing the show for APM this spring. The Mash-Up Americans is your guide to hyphen-America. Amy S. Choi and Rebecca Lehrer talk culture, identity, and what makes us who we are. LISTEN to episodes of the show and get to know yourself, America.

The New York Times Popcast, which I produce with NYT music critics Ben Ratliff and Jon Caramanica, broadcast some of their discussions on Facebook Live this past spring. These included conversations about the passing of Prince, Beyonce's "Lemonade" and new releases from Radiohead and James Blake. Sadly, Ben Ratliff just parted ways with the paper after 20 years as a New York Times music critic, and will focus on his teaching and other projects. I'll miss his NYT writing and his soulful and curious presence on the show. Here is his final Popcast episode with Jon, a must-listen for anyone interested in the arts and criticism.

​Feet In Two Worlds, the multimedia reporting project I have been working with for 10 years, was featured in Current, the magazine of public broadcasting. Fi2W also just launched the Unidos app for the 2016 Presidential Election.The Unidos app is designed to engage young Latinos, and give them information that they need to register to vote and become informed voters. LISTEN to an interview about the app and read more from our Executive Producer, John Rudolph. And, we finally got some of our news site back online after being taken down by a serious hack.

Below are recent episodes of Dream City, the occasional podcast series I host and produce for Feet In Two Worlds:

I launched a new music podcast called Strings and Things, a Peppergreen Production for Headstepper Media. Hosted by composer/performer Patrick Grant, the show invites guitarists to hang out, change their strings, tell stories and play music. It's totally chill - check it out at stringsandthingsshow.com!